Me
My name is Mark Doliner. I’m a computer software engineer living and working in North Carolina, USA. I worked in the San Francisco Bay area for 13 years before moving back East in 2019. My email address is mark@kingant.net.
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Author Archives: Mark Doliner
Mastodon and ActivityPub
I’ve started using Mastodon. It’s an open alternative to Twitter. “Open” meaning there’s no central controlling entity. Tech-savvy people can run their own server and servers can talk to each other (referred to as federation). If you’re interested in joining … Continue reading
Posted in All, Computers
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Let’s Encrypt is Fantastic
Apparently I haven’t posted this anywhere so I just want to go on record: Let’s Encrypt is amazing and fantastic. In five years the percentage of web pages loaded by Firefox using HTTPS went from 30% to 80%. That’s huge! … Continue reading
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Using Salt to Manage Server Configuration
Background I’ve been using Salt (for clarity and searchability it’s also sometimes referred to as Salt Project or Salt Stack) to manage the configuration of my web server since 2014. It’s similar to Puppet, Chef (I guess they call it … Continue reading
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Firefox as a Snap package in Ubuntu 22.04
In Ubuntu 22.04 Firefox is installed from a Snap package and not a dpkg like most other things and the update experience is awful. I get this notification: However, closing Firefox and reopening it does not cause it to be … Continue reading
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NASA Deep Space Network (DSN)
A random thing I stumbled upon and thought was interesting: NASA runs a website where you can see the current send/receive status of each antenna in the DSN (Deep Space Network) as well as the spacecraft it’s communicating with. The … Continue reading
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SlowCOVIDNC app
Update 2022-08-13: A few months ago the app started crashing and kept crashing so I uninstalled it. Looking at the comments on Play Store, other people have had the same problem. That was on a three and a half year … Continue reading
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Comparing Signatures on Mail-In Ballots
Voting by mail? Did you know that 28 states use signature matching to verify ballots? They compare the signature on your ballot with one they have on file from voter registrations, ballot applications or the D.M.V. California apparently does this. … Continue reading
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Two NC Races in the November Election
For those of you who might otherwise vote a straight Republican ticket in NC, I’d like to draw your attention to two races. State Auditor An N&O article says this about the Republican candidate: “put on probation in connection with … Continue reading
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